A Catered Affair Comes to Broadway!
Visit: http://www.acateredaffaironbroadway.com/

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It’s Only Life is the newest musical revue of John’s songs, co-conceived and directed by Daisy Prince. It was developed at Musical Theatre Works and had a full production as part of 2004’s first Summer Play Festival in New York City. In January of 2006, it was performed in a concert version as part of Lincoln Center’s American Songbook series and was recorded for the PS Classics label (with that same amazing cast) the following week.

The songs not already included in the Grateful Songbook will be available in a new songbook from the Hal Leonard Corporation (www.halleonard.com) in early 2008. When available, it will be an announced on this website.

Stock and amateur dramatic performance rights to IT'S ONLY LIFE may be obtained (as of early 2008) by contacting Rodgers and Hammerstein Theatricals at (212) 564-4000 or www.theatre@rnh.com. When available, it will be an announced on this website.

The extraordinary performers participating in the recording are Brooks Ashmanskas, Andrea Burns, Gavin Creel, Jessica Molaskey and Billy Porter. John is at the piano accompanying them. The show features 23 songs which span John’s career, 14 of which have not been recorded by John before. There are vocal arrangements by Jeff Blumenkrantz and Jason Robert Brown as well as John. The songs included are:

1. THE ARTIST AT 40 (All)
2. UNEXPRESSED (Gavin)
3. PAINTING MY KITCHEN (Brooks)
4. SWEET DREAMS (Jessica)
5. PLAYBILL (Billy)
6. THAT SMILE (All)
7. LOVE QUIZ (Andrea)
8. A CONTACT HIGH (Gavin)
9. WHAT YOU NEED (Billy)
10. WHEN YOU’RE HERE (Jessica)
11. IT FEELS LIKE HOME (Gavin)
12. A POWERFUL MAN (Billy)
13. I’M NOT WAITING (All)
14. PROGRESSION (John)
15. IT’S ONLY LIFE (All)
16. LOVE WILL FIND YOU IN ITS TIME (Gavin & Andrea)
17. IF I EVER SAY I’M OVER YOU (Brooks)
18. THIS MOMENT (Andrea)
19. ON MY BEDSIDE TABLE (Brooks)
20. I’VE LEARNED TO LET THINGS GO (Jessica)
21.TAKING THE WHEEL (Gavin & All)
22. GRATEFUL (Billy)
23. A GLIMPSE OF THE WEAVE (All)

In his New York Times review of the show, Stephen Holden writes:

“On the growing roster of younger New York songwriters jockeying for recognition in the gray area between the art song and pop, John Bucchino occupies a special niche. Mr. Bucchino, whose work was showcased by Lincoln Center's American Songbook series on Friday evening, personifies the therapy-sensitized, new-age-savvy metrosexual seeker of love and truth minutely cataloging his adventures on the street of dreams.

Mr. Bucchino's flowing, finely made piano ballads describe an urban single life in which relationships come and go in cycles of yearning, fulfillment, heartbreak and healing. Romantic love is a serious quest undertaken as a race against time. In a burst of self-appraisal like "The Artist at 40," you can practically hear the clock ticking.

That search for a lasting relationship is part of a deeper philosophical quest. Two of Mr. Bucchino's best-known songs, "Grateful" and "This Moment," describe personal epiphanies: yearning gives way to rapturous flashes of insight in which the songwriter recognizes life's blessings and realizes that the moment is all there is. But more often than not, he is dogged by insecurity and fear. Personal victories, like the sense of mastery expressed in his buoyant song "Taking the Wheel," are hard won.

Mr. Bucchino's language sometimes verges on the flowery. "Grateful," with its hymnlike harmonies, for instance, conspicuously rhymes "truly" and "duly"; the song preaches gratitude. But Mr. Bucchino never wastes words. Songs like "Painting the Kitchen," an amusing depiction of home improvement as a therapeutic exercise during which the narrator carries on an interior dialogue with his therapist, emphasize his gift as a witty phrasemaker in the Sondheim mold.

These were among more than 20 Bucchino songs woven into a suite in "It's Only Life" at the Allen Room at Frederick P. Rose Hall, where the composer, playing piano, accompanied

five singers in a survey of his impressive output. As the show progressed, fragments from earlier songs were brought back as a linking device that gave the concert a steady dramatic arc.

The singers, Brooks Ashmanskas, Andrea Burns, Gavin Creel, Jessica Molaskey and Billy Porter, brought conviction and personality to their monologues. Collectively they evoked a group therapy session peopled by creative, high-strung articulate Manhattanites approaching middle age with high expectations, high anxiety and open hearts.”

John writes:

It’s been a dream of mine for many years to put together a revue of my songs. Now, thanks to the brilliance of Daisy Prince and the participation of some of the best performers around, we have It’s Only Life.

We recorded the show on Feb. 1st and 2nd, 2006 in two intensely focused sessions. The singers did a miraculous job of capturing my intentions for the material while dramatically infusing it with their own personality and unique musical style. I couldn’t be more thrilled with the result. I hope you enjoy!